Hotel Marketing. Hotel marketing consists of the strategic planning and deployment of techniques and actions that will help promote and flourish the hotel’s brand to aid with positioning the hotel as one of the best on the market. A variety of campaigns and promotional programs are planned and executed using a business texting service in order to make the hotel lucrative and appealing to the public which will attract more people to book reservations.
Currently, many establishments in the hospitality industry are stating that it has become a challenge to keep reservation numbers up and innovative marketing methods for hotels are a necessity in order to stay in line with or on top of their competitors. With the launch of new app-based lodging services like Airbnb and Oyo Rooms, the competition has become even tougher. In the last few years, digital marketing has defeated almost all other marketing methodologies.
Today, mostly all prospects are equipped with a smartphone and are in the habit of researching the best deals and services available before they travel. It should come of no surprise that they’re using their most used device to find the lowest deals; their smartphones.
The tour and travel app-based platforms that are available today provide the easiest way of booking hotel rooms right from the palm of your hands. Customers can now book, cancel, pay, and modify reservations, or when need be, talk to hotel staff through a business texting service about their booking right from their mobile device. The flexibilities that travel apps now offer have transformed the hotel industry to a highly dynamic business, but also a business that is very tough among competitors. Where a hotel’s reputation once earned them the most bookings, now the best pictures, text, and pricing is listed side by side on an app and one click or another will win.
To give you a clearer picture of how many rooms go unreserved, we’d like to use data from the most recent data research report for the hospitality industry. Although this case study is from two years ago, it is the most recent available. According to the report the percentage on unoccupied hotel rooms in Feb 2017 was about 69%. This shows that a large portion of the hotel inventory was untouched, and caused loss to the hotel business.
Another report demonstrated that the hotel industry is a nearly $500 billion a year business. The total number of hotels around the world is about 187,000 with 17.5 million guest rooms in inventory. If that’s true, imagine what the revenue projections would be if the proper marketing would help get the unoccupied 69% of hotel rooms booked.
That’s where a business texting service comes in…
It is clear that the hotel industry requires proper marketing planning and strategic execution to grow at higher rates. Below we will review how a business texting service can be used as a marketing solution for hotels:
Top-notch Website. The hotel must have an excellent website where the potential customer is not only attracted to the visuals but can search, view, compare and analyze all aspects of their stay. These may include pricing for booking a room, amenities available at the hotel (which are part of the booking), food availability, availability of transportation, sightseeing options, local shopping information and the commuting option to and from the nearest airport. Information regarding these aspects should be clearly available on the website.
Returning Customers. Customers who have already stayed in the hotel should be enticed to return for future visits. This can be achieved by various loyalty reward programs or cash credits which can be utilized for payment towards future bookings. This will attract existing customers to re-visit the hotel.
Website Virtual Tour. The hotel’s website should have videos, images and a virtual tour of the hotel readily available. This should contain real images and a real tour of the perimeters of the hotel. When the customer is satisfied with the outlook and infrastructure, they will be more apt to complete their booking right then and there.
Ad Campaigns. The hotel should run several ad campaigns on various social media platforms. The digital ad campaigns are generally less expensive than any other form of traditional advertising.
Accurate Marketing. According to research, a customer abandons about 75% of bookings halfway through the process due to some reason or another. The report shows that it’s usually due to missing information or unclear data. If the information is accurate and detailed, then the abandonment rate would go down and prospects would be less opposed to complete their booking.
SEO Services. There is tough competition in the Hotel Industry in both the online and offline segments. Therefore, it is highly recommended to consider search engine optimization services. Your website content should also be regularly updated so that it can rank high on search engines. The targeted prospects should include a variety of visitors. For example, men, women, students, housewives, travel bloggers, and various other categories of people.
Local Community Awareness. The hotel manager is expected to be aware of the local culture, traditions, festivals and other important happenings in the city. These events directly affect the number of people visiting the city for the first time and want to take in all the local offerings. Strategic planning should be implemented into marketing material to ensure the busy season is properly utilized.
Reviews. The social media giant Tripadvisor.com contains 435 million reviews and 390 million visitors land on the website monthly. Coincidence? We think not. Reviews are vital on how a website ranks on search engines. To give you an idea of what type of volume of reviews are needed, about 280 travelers leave reviews on their website every minute.
Using a business texting service to send a direct link to guests and request that they write a review after they have checked out would be ideal. If you throw in a discount for the next time they stay at the hotel, you’re killing two marketing birds with one text. You’re convincing them to write a review which will help the hotel’s ranking, and you’re ensuring they’ll return for a visit with the offered loyalty discount for returning to the hotel.
Business Texting Service. The hotel administration should use the most common form of communication to stay in touch with prospects, existing, and returning guests. People are more prone to read and reply to a text message regarding their existing or upcoming stay at the hotel than to sit on a phone call with you about it. Trying to reach out to them by email has a very little chance that they’ll read it, and an even lesser chance that they’ll reply. Here’s how you can use a business texting service to engage and connect more with hotel guests:
- Use your website and social media pages to let potential guests and loyal customers know they can text your business phone number to contact you.
- Send and receive messages to confirm hotel reservations.
- Use two-way text messaging for any changes, cancellations, or updates regarding hotel reservations.
- Send promotional offers via text messages.
- Send links to directions.
- Send forms and surveys to hotel guests.
- Send links offering a discount if a recent guest clicks to write a review about their experience at the hotel.
- Live chat from the admin panel chat widget directly to the hotel guest’s mobile device.
- Send invoices and links to accept payments from customers.
- Partner with a local car ride or transportation service and offer a considerable discount for anyone who books with your hotel and uses the partner’s car/transportation service. They must subscribe to your list of contacts by using a special code and you can auto-reply with their promotional discount code.
- Partner with local entertainment establishments like movie theaters, musical theatres, sightseeing tours, etc. and offer a combined booking discount for anyone who uses a special code to subscribe to receive text messages.
It’s time to realize just how dynamic the hotel business is in the hospitality industry. You must emerge, reinvent, and execute innovative marketing methods in order to improve sales. Using such a popular and cost-effective communication channel is the way to go! To stay updated with the latest ways of using a business texting service to improve your marketing strategies, check in frequently on the Text My Main Number blog.
0 Comment